US Navy grounder sine T-45 Goshawk - AW&ST

 

U.S. Navy Grounds T-45s After Two Engine Malfunctions In Less Than Month

Brian Everstine April 19, 2024

T-45

Credit: U.S. Navy

A T-45C Goshawk engine malfunction on April 12 has caused the U.S. Navy to pause flight operations of the type—the second mishap for the trainer in less than a month.

The incident, which required a precautionary landing at Hesler-Noble Field in Laurel, Mississippi, raises the fiscal 2024 tally of Navy Class A aviation mishaps to nine. This is one more than the total for all of fiscal 2023.

Naval Air Forces said in a statement that the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) is investigating the incident, while Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is spearheading an engineering investigation. Meanwhile, flights have been paused “out of an abundance of caution” while the commands assess the fleet’s ability to resume flying.

The April 12 incident, first reported by USNI News, follows a March 18 incident in which a T-45C experienced an engine malfunction on takeoff at NAS Meridian, Mississippi, requiring a high-speed abort. Naval Air Forces and NAVAIR have not directly connected the causes of the mishaps, though both are malfunctions of the T-45’s Rolls-Royce Adour engine.

The T-45 fleet in recent years has seen repeated problems with the Adour. In October 2022, a compressor blade shot through an engine at NAS Kingsville, Texas, prompting the service to ground the fleet for 4 1/2 months.

The engine problems and grounding sparked a backlog in training, as CNATRA reported a backlog of about 1,000 pilots in 2023.

The increase in mishaps this year comes after the service had seen a drop in recent years. For example, fiscal 2023’s total was half of the 16 reported aviation mishaps in 2022.